Cigarette extinguisher



R. E. VAN NORSTRAND CIGARETTE EXTINGUISHER Filed-April 8. 1941 June 22, 1943.

2 Sheets-Sheet l R. o T N E V m EQLHYEIMO/YJZM' BY ATTO EYS June 22, 1943. R. E. VAN NORS' I' RAND 2,322,604

CIGARETTE EXTING'UISHER Filed April 8, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 J 4% m Z /7 WM r? H m B W4, 7- ATT NEYS hood member I5.

Patented June 22, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CIGARETTE EXTINGUISHER Ralph E. van Norstrand, Suffield, Conn.

Application April 8, 1941, Serial No. 387,403

12 Claims. (c1. 131-237) This invention relates to extinguishing devices for cigarettes and the like, and has particular reference to extinguishing devices which are moved into extinguishing position by the op eration of a heat responsive member adjacent the lighted end of a cigarette. One object of the invention is to provide an improved device of this general character in which the heat responsive memberwill shift an extinguishing hood both toward and from the cigarette so that the device automatically opens up after the cigarette has been extinguished. A further object is to provide a device of the automatically resetting type in which there will be a substantial dwell in the extinguishing position even after the cigarette has cooled to the point where the heat responsive member tends to return to inactive position. Other objects will appear from the following description and claims.

Referring to the drawings,

Fig. 1 is an enlarged detail plan of an ash tray provided with an extinguishing member constructed in accordance with the invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof;

Fig. 3 is an enlargedsection on line 33 of F Fig. 4 is a perspective detail;

Fig. 5 is a detail plan of a portion of the apparatus;

Fig. 6 is a perspective detail;

'Fig. 7 is a viewcorresponding t Fig. 3 but showing the parts in a different position;

Fig. 8 is a detail of a modification;

Fig. 9 is a detail of a second modification;

Fig. 10 is a section (much enlarged) of a modified form of extinguisher embodying the present invention, taken on line I J-l 0 of Fig. 12;

Fig. 11 is a similar view taken on line il-l| of Fig. 12:

Fig. 12'is a plan view of the form of extinguisher shown in Figs. 10 and 11, partially broken away; l

Fig. 13 is a section on line Ill-l3 of Fig. 12;

and

Fig. 14 is a view similar to Fig. 10 but showing the parts in a different position of operation.

The ash tray II) has a cigarette rest it attached thereto and having a portion extending inwardly of the tray. For reasons which will appear below. this rest is'preferably curved to con form closely to the shape of the cigarette. On one side the rest is provided with ears 12 which support a pin [3 upon which is pivoted at M a This hood member can swing from the inactive position shown in full lines in Fig. 2 to theextinguishing position shown in dotted lines in that figure. Attached to a downwardly extending bracket l6, preferably formed integral with the rest, is a helical coil ll formed of a bi-metallic strip or-ribbon. This coil 'extends closely adjacent the end of the rest and is exposed by a concave notch l8 formed therein. When a cigarette is laid on the rest 'rio action' will be produced until it has burned backsufii ciently to heat up the coil l'l. When this occurs its end l9, which extends along the side of the rest underneath 'the pin l3 (Fig. 5),wi1l be raised by the tendency of the coil to twist'under heat, Were the end of the extinguisher ill to be at-fl tached directly to the hood -l5 the latter would be moved into its entinguishing position when the coil was heated and would move back again when the coil again cooled off. This operation. however, would tend toproduce a flutteringof the' hood while in contact with the cigarette and would also require a very substantial movement of the end of the coil. In accordance with the present invention both of these objections Zare avoided by introducing a lost motion connection' between the bi-metallic strip and the-hood 15.

For this purpose a separate member 20 is-em ployed, best shown in Fig. 6. This member 'has a portion [2 coiled around the pin I 3 to serve as a bearing, and an underlying portion 22 to which the strip is connected. The portion 2| has-lateral lugs 23 which extend into notches 2'4 cut in the bearing portions M ofthe hood. The "relative position of the lugs and notches are such that if the member 20-is rocked counterclock. wise, as viewed in Fig, 3, the lugs 23 will contact the rear side of the notchand cause the-hood member to be swung upwardly. 'As soon as the hoodreaches a vertical positionit swings over and drops by gravity against thecigarettenthe notch being carried ahead of the lugs as is best shown in Fig. '7.

It will be seenv from, a comparison of Figs. 3 and '7 that by this means the motion given to the hood I5 is. much greater than that given to the driving member 20. :This makesit possible to employ a very much simpler operating structture than if the heat responsive member had to go through the entire motion imparted to the hood. A similar action takes place on the re.- verse stroke, where after the lost motion is taken up the lugs 23 engage the member l5 and push it once more to, a vertical position whence it falls over into the full line position. of Fig. 2. i

It was stated above thatrit was desirable to after the cigarette has burned back far enough to uncover the coil IT. The close conformation. of the rest and the hood to the shape of the cigarette causes a sweating action which great 1y speeds up the extinguishing process, making certain that the cigarette will be put out even with a comparatively short dwell of the hood in contact with it.

Various other forms of operating mechanism.

may be used. For instance a metal bellows '30 shown in Fig. 8 may be connected directly to'the .member 20 and filled with a rapidly expansible material. This has the advantage in some cases of producing a straight line action instead of a: rotation as in the case of the-coil;' and of producing a very considerable amount of motion yielding "a substantial degree of power. Another way in' which the device may' be' operated is shown in Fig. 9. A tube 3 I- shaped like the Bourdon tubeused-in a steam gauge is attached to the bracket I6 and passes the notch I 8, then turning back underbeneath the body of the rest. At that point it is connected by a link 32 withthe member 20'. The tube is filled *with a rapidly expansible material; andwhen' the latter is'heated the tube tends to straighten, causing'the operating member 20 to rotate around the pin and throw the hood into active extinguishing position.

"It is not'n'ecessary that the hoodbe confined to a single member at one side which passes entirely over the top of the cigarettel' "As in Figs. 10 to 14 the'hood member may be made in'two sections 35 each pivoted at'36 beside the cigarette rest 32';

A heat responsive member, here shown as abel lowsfl38' simil'ar' to the bellows 30', as secured at one e'ndas to a bracket'39 at oneside of the rest;

and has at its other end a pin Mlbearing collars 4I- positioned to engage an *extension on one of the hoods 35; The hoo'd members have interlocking sections'flyas' shown in 'Figs. 12 and 13, so that they are forced to move simultaneously and in opposite directions. One of the members 35 is provided with 9; lug 43 (Fig. 11)"over which-and over a pin 44 on 't'hebracket39'is' compressed a spring 45; This spring forms atoggle" by which the hood members 'will' be snapped past a dead center position intoeither open or closed relation, as is apparent from "acomparison of Figs.

1'1 and 14." It is'desi rable to have the lost motion connection provided by the collars'M in order to permit the spring to act quickly and to give an additional dwell to' the hood-members in closed position, as has been'discu'ssed above in connection with other forms of" the invention.

What I claim is: I V

1.'An extinguishing device for .cigarette and thelike comprising a rest, at least'one extine guishi'n'g member mounted for movement into and out of contact with a cigarette on said rest, a'heat responsive member exposed to the lighted end ofa cigarette on said-restpand acoupling between'theiextinguish'ing member and the heat responsive. member to cause the extinguishing member-to approach the rest as the heat responsive member is heated and to recede therefrom as the heat'respon'sive member cools, said coupling including a lost motion connection.

2. An'extinguishing' device for cigarettes and the like comprising a rest, at least one extinguishing member mounted for movement into and out of contact with a cigarette on said rest, a heat responsive member comprising a coil of bimetallic ribbon exposed to the lighted end of a cigarette on said rest, and a coupling between the extinguishing member and the heat responsive member to cause the extinguishing member to approach the rest as the heat responsive member is heated and to recede therefrom as the heat responsive member cools, said coupling including a lost motion connection.

3. An extinguishing device for cigarettes and the like comprising a rest, at least one extinguishing member mounted for movement into and out of contact with a cigarette on said rest, a heat responsive member comprising a bellows-like tube filled with an "expansible substance, said tube being exposed to the lighted end of a cigarette on said rest, and a coupling between the extinguishing member and the-heat responsive member to cause the extinguishing member to approach the rest as the heat responsive member is heated and to recede therefrom as the heat-responsive member cools, said coupling including a lost motion connection.

4. An extinguishing devicefor cigarettes and the like comprising a rest; at least one hood pivoted adjacent therest and movable from an inactive position to a position embracing the cigarette, a heat responsive member exposed to the lighted end of a cigarette on said rest, and a coupling between the hood and the: heat responsive member to cause the heat responsive member tocause the-hood'to approach therest as the heat responsive member is heated'and to-recede therefrom as the heat responsive member cools, said coupling including a lost motion connection.

5. An extinguishing device for cigarettes and the like comprising a .rest, a hood member pivoted adjacent the rest" and movable from an inactive position througha vertical position and thence to a position embracing the cigarette, a heat responsive member exposed to the lighted end of a cigarette on said rest and including a lost motion connection, whereby as the heat responsive member" is heated by the lighted end of the cigarette-it will movethe hood past its vertical position to permit gravity to move it to the cigarette andas the heat responsive member cools it-will move the hood past'the vertical position in the opposite-direction to-permit gravity to move it to inactive position.

GuAn' extinguishing device for cigarettes and the like comprising a rest, a pivot adjacent the rest, a hood mounted on'said pivot for swinging movement from an inactive position through a vertical position and thence to a position embracing the cigarette, a heat responsive member exposed to the lighted end of a cigarette on said rest, an'operating member pivoted on said pivot and having a lost motion interfitting connection with said hood,'and aconnection between the heat responsive member and the operating member, whereby as the heat responsive member is heated by the lighted end of the cigarette it will move the hood past its vertical. position to permit gravity to move ittothe cigarette and as the heat responsive member cools it will move the hood past the vertical position in the opposite direction to permit gravity to move it to inactive position.

'7. An extinguishing device for cigarettes and the like comprising a rest, a pivot adjacent the rest, a'hood mounted on said pivot for swinging movement froman inactive position through a vertical position and thence to a position embracing the cigarette, a heat responsive member comprising a coil of bimetallic ribbon exposed to the lighted end of a cigarette on said rest, an operating member pivoted on said pivot and having a lost motion interfitting connection with said hood, and a connection between the heat responsive member and the operating member, whereby as the heat responsive member is heated by the lighted end of the cigarette it will move the hood past its vertical position to permit gravity to move it to the cigarette and as the heat responsive member cools it will move the hood past the vertical position in the opposite direction to permit gravity to move it to inactive position.

8. An extinguishing device for cigarettes and the like comprising a rest, a pivot adjacent the rest, a hood mounted on said pivot for swinging movement from an inactive position through a vertical position and thence to a position embracing the cigarette, a heat responsive member comprising a bellows-like tube filled with an expansible substance, said tube being exposed to the lighted end of a cigarette on said rest, an operating member pivoted on said pivot and having a lost motion interfitting connection with said hood, and a connection between the heat responsive member and the operating member, 2

whereby as the heat responsive member is heated by the lighted end of the cigarette it will move the hood past its vertical position to permit gravity to move it to the cigarette and as the heat responsive member cools it will move the hood past the vertical position in the opposite direction to permit gravity to move it to inactive position.

9. An extinguishing device for cigarettes and the like comprising a rest, at least one hood pivoted adjacent the rest, a toggle spring operative to force the hood into either inactive or cigarette embracing position, and heat responsive means exposed to the lighted end of a cigarette on said rest andcoupled with said hood to initiate its movement selectively toward both positions.

10. An extinguishing device for cigarettes and the like comprising a rest, at least one hood pivoted adjacent the rest, a toggle spring operative to force the hood into either inactive or cigarette embracing position, and heat responsive means exposed to the lighted end of a cigarette on said rest and coupled with said hood with a lost motion connection to initiate its movement selectively toward both positions.

11. An extinguishing device for cigarettes and the like comprising a rest, a pair of hood members each pivoted at one side of the rest, interfitting connections between the hood members to constrain them for simultaneous and opposite motion, a toggle spring engaging at least one of the members to snap the members either into inactive or cigarette embracing position, and heat responsive means exposed to the lighted end of a cigarette on said rest and coupled with said hood members to initiate their movement towards the cigarette as the heat responsive member is heated and towards their inactive position as the heat responsive member is cooled.

12. An extinguishing device for cigarettes and the like comprising a rest, a pair of hood members each pivoted at one side of the rest, interfitting connections between the hood members to constrain them for simultaneous and opposite motion, a toggle spring engaging at least one of the members to snap the members either into inactive or cigarette embracing position, and heat responsive means exposed to the lighted end of a cigarette on said rest and coupled with said hood members with a lost motion connection to initiate their movement towards the cigarette as the heat responsive member is heated and towards their inactive position as the heat responsive member is cooled.

RALPH E. VAN NORSTRAND. 

